Laika
by The Alpha Omega
Summary: Just some thoughts of Itachi sometime before the massacre of his clan. One-Shot, and sorta follows the lines of the song "Neighborhood 2 (Laika" by The Arcade Fire. It's better than it sounds.


A/N: So, I'm writing another fic. The idea's been eating away inside of me for about two weeks now… I don't think it'll turn out very good, but I just need to get the story out of me.

Well, the fic's gonna be about Itachi and before the massacre of his clan. It'll follow the lines of an awesome song that I thought fit Itachi very well. It's called, "Neighborhood #2 (Laika.)"—The Arcade Fire.

Okay, why the song… Well, I think the meaning of the song is about the singer's brother who was a disgrace to the family (sorta.) And Laika is the dog Russia sent out in 1957 in Sputnik II. The dog was never intended to return home, and died in space within a week after the launch. So, the meaning was like, the brother who caused so much trouble was like a lost case to the family, like the lost dog of Laika. ("Our mother shoulda just called you Laika.") And the vampire and tears part, I thought it would it sorta fit in with the Sharingan…

And Itachi will be around the ages of 10 and 12… But anyways, onward with the fic!

-

(Itachi POV.)

_Alexander, our older brother!_

_Set out for a great adventure…_

_He tore our images out of his pictures,_

_He scratched our names out of all his letters._

_Our mother shoulda just called you Laika!_

"I'm home." I say before quietly slipping off my sandals in the _genkan_ (1) and hanging up my messenger bag.

"Aniki! (Brother!)" A blur of navy blue comes at me and attaches itself to me. I pet Sasuke's head before addressing him.

Sasuke detaches himself from me and has a small pout on his face. "I missed you, aniki. Why were you so late?"

"Sensei held us back for training." I say boredly before looking at my mother. She motions for me to wash up before eating my late lunch. (A/N: Yeah, the Itachi in this fic is before he becomes an ANBU leader…)

After I return from the washroom, my brother tells me he skipped his lunchtime and waited so he could eat with me. Wow, like I care.

"Itachi! How dare you!" My mom says, astonished. Now what? Oh, whoops. I must've said that out loud, I think, as I see my brother's eyes watering up.

After I finish my lunch, I retrieve my messenger bag before stalking off to the room the fools I call "parents" equipped me with. Sasuke's already in there, though, waiting for me as usual.

"Aniiikkkii! Today you said you would teach me how to form some hand seals!" Sasuke says in his annoyingly high pitched voice, as he tugs at my shirt sleeve.

I sigh before giving my customary answer, "I said maybe. And I don't think I want to today. I'm tired from the training." When in truth, I'm not. "Go ask Tousan (father), or ojisan. (uncle)" (2)

Sasuke surprises me with his unusual reply, "Don't you like me, aniki?"

I pause before responding, "Sure I do. But I just don't have time to spend with you. And sometimes you're very troublesome." Sasuke scuffs his feet on the floor some before I poke his forehead and tell him to go away.

-

_Come on Alex, you can do it!_

_Come on Alex, there's nothing to it!_

_If you want something, don't ask for nothing…_

_If you want nothing, don't ask for something!_

_Our mother shoulda just named you Laika!_

_It's for your own good,_

_It's for the neighborhood!_

The noise of my sliding _shouji_ door (3) resulted in me saying without looking up, "Sasuke, go away. I'm studying." But in response, all I got was a deep cough that was certainly not my little brothers.

I look up behind me, and it reveals to be the other person who is part of my parental units-My father. "Yes, Tousan?" I say boredly.

My father blinks before walking inside of my room, and sits down next to me in a casual position. "Ah, Itachi… I need to talk to you about something…" He looks nervous, I notice. Then my father produces my black journal out of his robe, and he observes my face.

I raise my eyebrows at him, and he speaks again, "This is your journal, no? Well, your Kaasan (mom) found this and saw some… interesting things written in here."

"And?" I respond. Finally they found my journal. It had taken them a few weeks, too…

"…I just now know I'll need to keep a close eye on you. How could you say you wanted your brother to die? In such detail, too… You only have one Otouto (Little brother), Itachi. I'm sure you expect him to be a little bit like you, but you have to understand that Sasuke is special." Our father never makes sense. All he can do is talk, and talk…"He's more… delicate, and he's not the eldest son of the Uchiha clan. He's not expected to do all that you have done. You understand all this, right Itachi?"

I look him in the eye, and make it look like I'm actually thinking of what he was saying, "Yes, tousan. Sasuke's special, and he doesn't deserve to die." Damn straight he doesn't even deserve to die. That weak excuse for an Uchiha... And he thinks he can be a ninja when he still comes crying to me whenever he cuts himself too deeply with a kunai. Hn.

I must've been mumbling to myself _again_, because my father looked at me all weird and said, "Sometimes I can't even understand you, Itachi… You're too mature for your age, you know? You're just a lost case to me…"

Lost case? Now what the hell is he rambling about? Whatever, I want him to go away, so I motion with my eyes that I needed to study. He nods and finally leaves.

After I had studied, night had come, and as I pulled out my futon, I actually thought of what Tousan said… Those words, 'lost case,' had been in my mind ever since he said it. How could I be a lost case if I did everything and more that was expected of me?

Oh, I know why. My father thinks I'm a 'lost case' because I don't have normal human emotions and reactions. Dear Tousan just isn't smart enough to understand them. I'm just too complex for your mind? Well, Tousan, emotions make people weak, and anything that even hints weakness must be diminished. Now I know for sure that he's just as pitiful as the rest of my "family…" Ah, I'll show them…

-

_Our older brother, bit by a vampire!_

_For a year we caught his tears in a cup…_

_And now we're gonna make him drink it…_

_Come on Alex, don't die or dry up!_

_Our mother shoulda just named you Laika!_

_It's for your own good,_

_It's for the neighborhood!_

I sleep only for about five hours, and wake up a few hours short of the sunrise. Everybody's asleep, and this is the most peaceful time of my day. First I go to each of my family member's room and watch over them while they're sleeping, imagining their gruesome deaths. I touch each of their faces, envisioning their look of horror and surprise—I want to see the blood come spurting out of their mouths, and their glazed eyes… Just imagining their future massacre makes me giddy.

I move towards Sasuke's bed. Ah, little brother…so innocent, with sweet dreams and all. He's smiling, and I want to smack that smile right out from his face. Oh, I'll give _him_ a living hell. At least everyone else gets it easy and dies right there and then… But you've had it easy all your life, right, Sasuke? Tousan doesn't expect you to even _have_ the damn Sharingan, and wants you to live a happy, carefree life. But as I brush back his ebony colored hair from his face, I smile, wondering how he will turn out…

Eventually everyone will wake up, and it's another wonder how none of them ever notice my presence when I'm here—every morning. But as I walk quietly away from the room, I'm the one fooled, for I don't see Sasuke open his eyes and smile widely before shifting his position and closing his eyes again to get some actual sleep.

-

In the one hour I have left before the sun actually rises, I read pleasure scrolls. Scrolls with stories about creatures and anything non-ninjustu related…

My favorite pleasure scrolls would be about vampires. I relate to them well-Sharingan vs. red eyes, the lust for blood vs. my lust for killing. It's also said that vampire cry blood tears, and drink their tears to somewhat quench their thirst for blood, and to give them a greater desire to kill.

I have tried this with my Sharingan. It took a lot of cutting, wrestling and much manipulation with my emotions to finally make me cry. As I cried I held a glass to my cheeks and gathered my tears for a few weeks before the glass was filled to the top.

While I drank my tears in front of a mirror, I noticed it tasted like a mixture of salt and iron. Salt for human tears, and iron as in blood… That experience had made me wonder who I was—a mixture race of some kind. Uchiha.

But when I peered closely into the mirror, I was surprised with what I saw. My Sharingan had been activated without me trying. This had me feeling somewhat pleased and frightened. And as I think back to this experience I remember this was when I started to closely monitor my family and ideas of their massacre and my strength began to occur. Now I gather and consume my tears at least two times a year to rekindle my lust for killing.

-

_When daddy comes home, you always start a fight!_

_So the neighbors can dance to the police disco lights,_

_The police disco light… (The police disco lights…)!_

_Now the neighbors can dance!_

_Look at them dance!_

"H-How could you?" Sasuke lets out another scream and I look up at him, and his eyes widen with fright and realization. "P-Please don't kill me!" He cowers and covers himself up.

I think of how weak he is. Don't kill him? Don't worry, not right now. He's too pathetic to even die. "Foolish little brother… if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way…"

Sasuke runs away and screams, and I wonder how long it'll take until the familiar masks of ANBU will start appearing here. I still hear my brother annoyingly screaming, and I decide to give him a final present. I replay all the killing into his head over and over… I'm sure he likes that.

Once I leave the Uchiha estate to meet up with the Ataksuki, I smile back at my "home". My work is done, and I know now what my strength is.

-

A/N: Aggggggggghhh, this fic was a bitch. Itachi's lifestyle is difficult to depict, since we don't know much about him. And sorry for the rushed and terrible ending. :3 I couldn't remember for sure the exact dialogue and scenes that were in the Uchiha massacre.

(1): _Genkan_—the genkan is like the area before you actually enter the home where you take off your shoes and store outerwear. The entrance-area, you could say.

(2): Oji_i_-san, with the long I is supposed to be old man, and ojisan is uncle,

(3): You know those transparent paper doors traditional Japanese homes have? Well, you slide them, and I'm guessing they make a sliding sound. Yeah.

I guess that's all, though, and this is a one-shot.

Oh, and please, please, please, please PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews are candy to me, and I want to know what I did wrong. :D


End file.
